Category: Internet News

How ‘Buy American’ Can Benefit Your Brand

In a 2015 Consumer Report Survey, 8 out of ten people stated that they would prefer to buy American manufactured goods than imported ones.

And, even more interestingly, the vast majority of these consumers (60%) say that they would happily pay more to do so. In fact, they would be willing to spend 10% more.

So this is good news for any American company or brand who are producing merchandise on U.S. soil.

However, there is a bit more to ensuring the success of your fledgling brand than simply placing a “Made In The U.S.A.” sticker on top of it.

To be able to benefit from the growing Buy American movement, you need to understand exactly what it is that your customers are driven by, in their desire to buy American.

Market research over the years has managed to identify four major strands in the desire to buy American manufactured goods.

These are; country based branding, country animosity, local branding and consumer ethnocentrism.

How you succeed in utilizing the power of the Buy American movement, depends on which influence matters the most to your consumers.

COUNTRY BASED BRANDING

This is playing up to the strength and the reputation of a certain country, because it is traditionally seen to be strong in a certain area.

Examples of this would be perfume or wine from France. In both these spheres, we would commonly associate France with high quality products.

With the USA, consumers believe that goods manufactured and assembled in the States will perform to a higher level and generally be of a better quality than a similar product made in China.

Even if your product is not engineered in the United States, does not mean that it may not have a selling point via country based branding.

For example, if your product is designed in the United States, it is possible to market it around that.

This is because country based branding also relies on the strength of a belief in one country’s (the U.S.A) design and reliability being superior to that of another.

LOCAL BRANDING

Local branding is different to ethnocentrism because it is specifically concerned with being from or about a particular locality, be that state, county or town.

Marketers may be able to seize the initiative with local branding, if this is a concern of their customers, by capitalizing on their local links.

COUNTRY ANIMOSITY

Some nations have an almost subconscious animosity to each other, which their consumers can then reflect in their spending.

For example, French consumers have an antipathy towards American products and brands and likewise, US consumers may look down on goods manufactured in China.

If your brand has strong links to a country which U.S. consumers may not react positively to, marketers need to position that branding in a thoughtful manner to help dispel any potential negative response.

CONSUMER ETHNOCENTRISM

If your customers take the ethnocentric approach they will be looking to buy American because of a belief in strengthening the U.S. economy.

Even if your brand is foreign owner or controlled, if you can prove to your customers that it is involved in creating jobs for U.S. workers, you may be able to capitalize on this driver of consumer behavior.